6. A national curriculum sets out the body of knowledge,
skills and understanding that a society wishes to pass on to its
children and young people. Most countries have some form of national
curriculum. In countries where the curriculum is set at regional
level these frameworks are often informed by shared guidelines.
Countries typically structure their national curriculum around
aims and values, subject content and skills, but do so in varying
levels of detail. In comparison to many countries' frameworks,
England's National Curriculum remains relatively prescriptive.
Unlike in some other countries, England's National Curriculum
only applies to maintained schools and not to independent schools,
nor to children who are educated at home. National or state education
Ministries typically have oversight of their respective national
curriculum. In England the Department is responsible for the strategic
management of the National Curriculum. Development and support
of the National Curriculum largely rests with the Non-Departmental
Public Body, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).

7. In order to provide some further perspective for
the reader on England's National Curriculum, we provide a more
detailed comparison of a selection of national curriculum frameworks
at Annex 1. Below, we set out some of the key milestones in the
development of the National Curriculum. We then outline the format
and content of the current National Curriculum as well as the
guidance that is in place to support its delivery.

Government interest in the school
curriculum 1944-1985

8. Looked at over the duration of publicly provided
education in England there has been a marked level of consistency
in thinking about the school curriculum. This is demonstrated
in the continued use of an essentially subject-based structure
for the curriculum and the fact that the subjects it comprises
have changed little since the late 1800s.[4]
In more recent decades there has also been a significant level
of consensus across the political parties as regards the need
for a national curriculum, what its purposes might be and how
it should be structured and supported.

9. The 1944 Education Act, introduced under the Conservative
President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler, put in place
publicly provided primary and secondary education for all. In
doing so, it set out a broad aim for education provision: "[ ]
it shall be the duty of the local education authority for every
area, so far as their powers extend, to contribute towards the
spiritual, moral, mental and physical development of the community
[ ]". However, the only specific requirement that it
set out in relation to the school curriculum was that all schools
should teach religious education. This meant that, aside from
curriculum schemes run by some local education authorities, the
curriculum for pupils aged 5 to 14 continued to be largely determined
by their teachers, often on the basis of commercially available
textbooks. The curriculum for older pupils tended to be based
on the public examination syllabuses chosen by their teachers.
The strength of the teaching profession and its representative
bodies at this time inhibited attempts to introduce greater central
direction of the curriculum.

10. In the early 1960s, in part due to concerns about
falling standards, the Conservative Minister of Education, David
Eccles, oversaw the establishment of a curriculum study group
within the Department of Education and Science. In 1964 his successor,
Sir Edward Boyle, replaced the group with the Schools' Council.
To counter accusations that local autonomy over the curriculum
had been undermined by the study group, the Council was based
on a partnership between central and local Government and teachers.
It advanced a wide range of national projects that typically sought
to develop new ways of teaching and assessing a subject and to
spread good practice.

11. In the context of the economic downturn of the
mid-1970s, James Callaghan's 1976 Ruskin College speech reflected
growing public concerns that the UK was not being well-served
by its schools. The speech mooted the idea of a national 'core
curriculum'. Shortly afterwards, under Shirley Williams as Labour
Secretary of State, the Department of Education and Science and
Her Majesty's Inspectors published a series of papers on curriculum
issues, many of which criticised both primary and secondary schools
for the lack of balance in their curriculum and for their failure
to develop sufficiently planned curricula that took account of
the changing needs of industry and society. Circular 14/77, which
asked local education authorities about the curriculum in their
areas, found substantial variation in curriculum policy across
the country.

12. An indication of the Department of Education
and Science's determination to take greater control of curriculum
matters, in 1979 the Conservative Secretary of State, Mark Carlisle,
oversaw the abolition of the Schools' Council and its replacement
with the School Curriculum and Development Committee and the Secondary
Examinations Council, the members of which were appointed by the
Secretary of State.

13. In 1985, under Sir Keith Joseph as Secretary
of State, the Better Schools White Paper recommended moving
towards a nationally-agreed curriculum. A further related agency,
the National Council for Vocational Qualifications, was established
in 1986.

Establishment of the National
Curriculum

14. In 1987 the Department of Education and Science,
now under Kenneth Baker, issued a consultation document that set
out the rationale for a national curriculum. This document essentially
identified four broad purposes: introducing an entitlement for
pupils to a broad and balanced curriculum; setting standards for
pupil attainment and to support school accountability; improving
continuity and coherence within the curriculum, and aiding public
understanding of the work of schools.

15. Following the consultation, Parliament passed
the 1988 Education Reform Act, which established the framework
for the National Curriculum. The key principles in developing
the National Curriculum were that:

it would be underpinned by
two aimsand echoing the 1944 statementto promote
the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development
of pupils, and to prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities
and experiences of adult life;

it would be structured around 'Key Stages' and
be subject-based, covering the 'core' subjects of English, mathematics
and science, and the 'foundation' subjects of art, geography,
history, music, physical education and technology, with all subjects
studied from age 5 up to age 16, modern foreign languages from
age 11, and

the syllabus for each subject at each Key Stage
would be set out in a 'Programme of Study', which would also include
a scale of attainment targets to guide teacher assessment.

Schools would also be required to teach religious
education and areas such as personal, social and health education,
though these subjects sat outside the National Curriculum. A number
of non-statutory 'cross-curricular' themes and genericor
lifeskills were added to this basic framework in the course
of implementing the National Curriculum.

16. Development of the National Curriculum was overseen
by two new advisory bodies, the National Curriculum Council and
the School Examination and Assessment Council. Formulation of
the original Programmes of Study was handed to subject-based working
groups, comprising experts from a wide variety of educational
backgrounds and which drew on evidence and expertise from throughout
the education system. Due in part to the different subject communities
wanting to promote their subject within the National Curriculum,
the documentation to emerge from this process was substantial
and set out in considerable detail the subject content that schools
should be required to cover.

17. The drawing up of testing arrangements for the
National Curriculum was taken forward by the Task Group on Assessment
and Testing (TGAT). The TGAT report emphasised the formative aspects
of assessment and the use of a range of assessment approaches
that could be delivered and marked by teachers. However, the Department
of Education and Science regarded the TGAT recommendations as
overly complex and simpler arrangements were ultimately put in
placeteacher assessment accompanied by summative assessment
through nationally-administered standardised tests, known as 'Key
Stage tests'. More controversially, and again counter to the TGAT
report, test results were to be published in performance tables.

18. The National Curriculum was introduced into primary
schools in 1989, and implementation across the primary and secondary
phases continued into the mid-1990s. The first run of Key Stage
testing was completed in 1991. In 1993 responsibility for school
inspections was transferred from Her Majesty's Inspectors and
local authority inspection teams to independent inspection teams,
the work of which would be co-ordinated by a new Non-Ministerial
Department of State, the then Office for Standards in Education
(Ofsted).

Key milestones in the reform of
the National Curriculum

19. The National Curriculum has subsequently been
reviewed and reformed on several occasions. The first review,
in 1993, was a response to teachers' complaints that the National
Curriculum and its testing arrangements were simply too unwieldy
and, indeed, to proposed teacher boycotts of the Key Stage tests.
Under John Patten as Secretary of State, the Department of Education
invited Sir Ron Dearing to conduct the review, and a revised version
of the National Curriculum was introduced in 1995. The key changes
included a reduction in the amount of prescribed content, the
restriction of Key Stage testing to the core subjects and the
replacement of a 10-level assessment scale for each subject with
8-level descriptors. In 1993 the National Curriculum Council and
the School Examination and Assessment Council were merged to form
the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

20. In 1996 concerns about the poor level of pupil
performance in Key Stage tests prompted the then Secretary of
State, Gillian Shephard, to oversee the addition to the National
Curriculum of two parallel support projects. These were intended
to improve the teaching of literacy and numeracy in primary schools.
At this stage only 18 local authorities made use of the projects.
Following the change of Government in 1997 the projects continued
in a modified form under the title of the National Literacy and
Numeracy Strategies. The Strategies were subsequently expanded
into the secondary phase, across more subjects and to cover whole
school issues, such as behaviour and attendance.

21. The National Curriculum itself next underwent
substantial revision in 1999. This work was overseen by the Qualifications
and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which was formed in 1997, by the
Conservative Government, through a merger of the School Curriculum
and Assessment Authority and the National Council for Vocational
Qualifications. As well as further reducing the amount of prescribed
content, in response to a growing number of requests from teachers
for a fuller explanation of what the National Curriculum stood
for, the 1999 reforms introduced an overt statement of aims and
purposes. These were not significantly different to those already
in place, just expanded upon in greater detail within the National
Curriculum Handbook for teachers. The statement of purposes
remains in place today:

to establish an entitlement.
The National Curriculum secures for all pupils, irrespective of
social background, culture, race, gender, differences in ability
and disabilities, an entitlement to a number of areas of learning
and to develop knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes
necessary for their self-fulfilment and development as active
and responsible citizens.

to establish standards. The National Curriculum
makes expectations for learning and attainment explicit to pupils,
parents, teachers, governors, employers and the public and establishes
national standards for the performance of all pupils in the subjects
it includes.

to promote continuity and coherence. The National
Curriculum contributes to a coherent national framework that promotes
curriculum continuity and is sufficiently flexible to ensure progression
in pupils' learning. It facilitates the transition of pupils between
schools and phases of education and provides a foundation for
lifelong learning.

to promote public understanding. The National
Curriculum increases public understanding of, and confidence in,
the work of schools and in the learning and achievements resulting
from compulsory education. It provides a common basis for discussion
of education issues among lay and professional groups, including
pupils, parents, teachers, governors and employers.[5]

22. Meanwhile, the Labour Government extended national
prescription of the curriculum to early years provision. A loose
national curriculum framework for early years provision was first
introduced in 2000 (Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation
Stage). This guidance became statutory from 2002. In the same
year guidance for younger children was introduced (Birth to
Three Matters). From September 2008 both documents were replaced
by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as the new statutory
framework for children from birth to age 5. The EYFS sits outside
the National Curriculum and is run through the Department rather
than the QCA.

23. In 2005, the Department asked the QCA to review
the secondary curriculum at Key Stage 3. This was with the principal
aim of further reducing the amount of prescribed content in order
to give teachers more time and space to support personalised learningbroadly
understood as the tailoring of what is taught and how it is taught
to the needs of the individual pupil. Key Stage 4 was later included
in the remit of the review. The new secondary curriculum places
greater emphasis on pupils' understanding of the concepts, ideas
and processes of subjects, on cross-curricular themes and on pupils'
development of life skills. It became statutory from September
2008.

24. In 2007 the Children's Plan announced
a 'root and branch' review of the primary curriculum, with changes
to be implemented from September 2011.[6]
The Review, led by Sir Jim Rose, commenced in 2008. In line with
the reform of the secondary curriculum, the Review has been tasked
with, among other things, reducing prescription and addressing
to a greater degree than before the development of pupils' life
skills. The Review team published its interim report in December
2008. It is due to publish its final report and recommendations
in Spring 2009.

25. The Department's ongoing reforms to 14-19 provision
will have a bearing on the National Curriculum. In particular,
the Diploma represents an attempt to reform the curriculum and
qualifications in tandem.

26. In addition, the remit of the agency with principal
responsibility for the National Curriculum is to be reconfigured
once again. Changes to the role and remit of the QCA will be taken
forward in 2009 through the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children
and Learning Bill.

30. In addition, it includes five non-statutory cross-curricular
elements:

Creativity;

ICT;

Education for sustainable development;

Literacy across the curriculum, and

Numeracy across the curriculum.

31. At the end of Key Stage 1 pupils sit tests in
reading, writing and mathematics, which are marked by the teacher.
At the end of Key Stage 2 pupils sit tests in English, mathematics
and science, which are marked by an external marker.

Documentation

32. The detail of the primary curriculum is set out
in the following documentation:

a statutory Programme of Studysyllabusfor
each subject at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2;[8]

a non-statutory Scheme of Worklesson plansfor
each subject at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2;[9]

the 'Big Picture of the Curriculum' framework,
which links the curriculum to other aspects of school life.[11]

Supporting frameworks

33. The main source of centrally-provided support
for delivery of the primary curriculum is the Primary National
Strategy (PNS).[12] This
includes:

the Primary Framework for Literacy
and Mathematics (PFLM), which offers detailed guidance on planning
and delivering these aspects of the primary curriculum

guidance promoting particular approaches to the
delivery of the primary curriculum, most notably the Letters
and Sounds publication, which has promoted the use of synthetic
phonics as the method of teaching early reading;

guidance for other subjects, including the arts,
ICT, modern foreign languages, music and physical education, and

guidance on related whole-school issues, including
guidance on the 'Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning' (SEAL)
and how to develop related skills among pupils.